Daily
news - 6th November 2018

Never under-estimate the power of kindness and a safe space. The SWOP project featured in our cover story showcases the best kind of outreach – meeting people at the stage they’re at, offering comfort and safety first and foremost, and then providing the first links to a network of support. It’s a way of working, and a set of values, that we shouldn’t forget in this results-driven age. Outreach work can be so very undervalued as budget cuts bite, but without projects such as this many people would stay under the radar, scarred by trauma and unable to move on | DDN, UK

Free registration may be required. The loss of alcoholic specialist roles, such as wellbeing nurses, in local services struggling with cash shortages is preventing alcoholics from getting the help they need, according to a national inquiry | Nursing Times, UK

Twenty-nine per cent of health professionals would not recommend e-cigarettes to cancer patients who already smoke, according to research presented at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference | Medical Xpress, UK

Since last Thursday, medical cannabis has been legal in the UK. This means specialist doctors are now able to prescribe cannabis products for conditions where there is a proven medical benefit... | VICE, UK

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been related to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Shyness can be considered a subclinical analogue of SAD, yet there is little research into the effect of alcohol on anxiety levels in highly-shy individuals | Science Direct, UK

MyPOV is a new discussion platform. We seek to explore the big issues in UK society. This week we are focused on UK Drug Policy and why reform is needed. We have many great contributors (Beckley Foundation, Drug Science, Transform, Mike Barton, Norman Lamb, Peter Reynolds, The BMJ, Leap UK…) and many others. We seek active engagement with other drug and policy experts and the UK population. If you have an opinion on UK Drug Policy, we would love you to engage! For or against change, your opinion really does matter | MyPOV, UK

Free event. Tues 15th November. Manchester. The Challenge of Drugs is a MetroPolis event, designed to look in detail at the difficulties of formulating a coherent policy on drugs. Is it a public health issue, a crime fighting problem, does Britain even have a drugs policy? | MetroPolis, UK

A new European funded project is set to give people who have experienced drug or alcohol problems the opportunity to develop their career prospects by taking part in a work and learning experience in another European country | SDF, UK

The number of people who end up in the emergency room after taking too much GHB increased explosively over the past years, doctors at the emergency rooms of hospitals in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen and Haarlem, and the Dutch association for emergency medical services NVSHA said to NRC | NLTimes, Netherlands

In May 2016, 26-year-old Caleb Smith was prepping for medical school entry exams, and ordered what he thought was Adderall off the internet to help him study. After the package arrived at his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Amanda Leach, asked to try some | The Appeal, USA

The Juul e-cigarette was created to help adult smokers quit, according to the company that makes it. Its developers wanted to make the experience of getting a stimulating hit of nicotine dramatically better than sucking on a stinky, smoking stick of burning tobacco | Bloomberg, USA

Smoking hookah tobacco acutely impairs blood vessels' ability to function, according to preliminary research to be presented in Chicago at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2018 | Medical Xpress, USA

Adolescents with a particular variant of an opioid receptor gene have less response in a part of prefrontal cortex that evaluates rewards, compared to those with the other version of the gene, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) | Medical Xpress, USA

Washington State University researchers have seen cognitive changes in the offspring of rats exposed to heavy amounts of cannabis. Their work is one of the rare studies to look at the effects of cannabis during pregnancy. The drug is the most commonly used illicit substance among pregnant women | News Medical, USA

When we think about staying healthy, it’s often within the narrow bandwidth of eating well, exercising regularly and avoiding smoking. These are important issues for us all to address of course, but there’s so much more to it than smoothies, park runs and vaping | PHE blog, UK

As I see it, currently the Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and e-cigarette policy scene continues to evolve in a direction that will result in substantially more tobacco-related addiction, illness and death, than what would likely occur with the skilled addition of a THR component to tobacco control programming | NSP blog, UK

With Alcohol Awareness Week starting in just two weeks (19-25 November), we wanted to share a few of the activities local authorities, pharmacies, GP surgeries, charities, workplaces and other local organisations across the country have planned to raise awareness about alcohol and signpost people to more information and support | Alcohol Concern blog, UK

In 1995, a report entitled “Sensible Drinking” was published by the UK Department of Health. In this report, the recommended maximum alcohol intakes were controversially raised to 4 units per day for men and 3 units per day for women | Dr Geoff blog, UK

For those that can afford it, going to a private clinic could be the quickest and most efficient way of getting the medicine that they need. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly clear, it may be the only way. For most people, already using cannabis as medicine, this means they will carry on as before, either growing themselves or dealing with the criminal market | Clear, UK

Unlucky, mate. Here you go,” the volunteer says as the clubber he’s talking to dutifully deposits a tiny sachet containing white powder, then gives a weary thank you before drifting away into the hazy color and music of the Boomtown Fair music festival in the sunny English countryside | Medium blog, UK

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